This week’s story comes from Tyrannia: and Other Renditions by Alan DeNiro, published by Small Beer Press. Bending, straddling, and contorting our notions of fiction and reality, these stories explore characters at major crossroads in their lives. In these 11 stories—and the weird spaces in between—people of all kinds struggle to free themselves from conventions and constraints both personal and political. Places ranging from the farthest reaches of outer space to the creepy abandoned farmhouse in the middle of nowhere become battlegrounds for change and growth–sometimes at a massive cost. Tyranny takes many forms, some more subtle than others, and it is up to the reader to travel along with the characters, who improvise and create their own renditions of freedom.